2nd Advent 2016, Beautiful to Hear

2nd Advent

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown of glory, stand firm in the power of the Lord.

Rejoice in the nearness of the Lord at all times! And I say it again: Rejoice!

Let a gentle kindliness be evident toward all human beings you encounter. The Lord is near! Let not worry have power over you; let your concerns in all things be known to God by sending your supplication and prayer upward in thankful thoughts. And the peace of God, which transcends anything that the intellect can grasp, will keep your hearts and thoughts safe in the Being of Christ….

And lastly dear brothers I say to you:

all that is true,

all that is worthy of reverence,

all that is good and holy,

all that is lovely to look at and beautiful to hear,

all that has virtue and deserves praise:

let these be the content of your conversations and thoughts. All that you have had handed on to you, what you have heard from me and seen in me—put all this into practice; then the God of Peace will be with you!

Holman Hunt

2nd Advent

December 3, 2016

Philippians 4:1, 4:4-9

Most of us have had the experience: whenever we pay particular attention to a theme or quality or thing, we begin to see it everywhere. Our heightened attention allows it to reveal itself in multiple ways and in unexpected places.

In this reading, Paul urges us to focus our attention on what is true, on what is beautiful, on what is good. We are to think about them, converse on them. We can focus our attention on truth in science, both natural and spiritual. We can find beauty in art and in nature. We can generate goodness in religious practice, in compassion, and through our own conscience. Immersion in truth, beauty and goodness will nourish and strengthen our souls.

By focusing our attention on truth, on beauty and goodness, we weave a mantle of protection around our souls. Worry is transformed into prayer steeped in gratitude. Peace descends as we realize that no matter what happens, we are safe in the Being of Christ. For He is Truth itself, beauty itself, goodness itself. 

In the words of Hafiz:

This is the time

For you to compute the impossibility

That there is anything

But Grace.

Now is the season to know

That everything you do

Is sacred.*

*"Now is the Time" in The Gift - versions of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky

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1st Passiontide 2016,

1^st Passiontide

Luke 11: 29 - 35

And as the crowds increased, Jesus began to speak. “The men of this generation are strangers to their true being. They look for signs and outer proofs of the spirit, but none other will be given to them but the sign of Jonah. For just as once Jonah shared the experience of the spirit with the inhabitants of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man share the experience of the spirit with this present generation. The Queen of the South will rise in the time of great crisis and decision against the men of this present generation and judge them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But know this: here is more than Solomon.

The inhabitants of Nineveh will rise up in the days of crisis and decision against the men of this present generation and will pronounce judgment over them. For they changed their ways after the proclamation of Jonah. But know this; here is more than Jonah.

No one lights a light and then puts it in a hidden place or under a vessel, but rather sets it on a lamp stand, so that all may see the light shining.

The light of your body is your eye. When your eye looks at the world clearly and impartially, the processes of your whole body will be inwardly filled with light. If however the eye’s desire sees the world separated from the spirit, darkness will pour itself into you.

Protect yourself that the light does not become darkness in you.

If your body is now filled with light, so that it no longer takes part in darkness, everything will be completely illuminated, so that, with lightning brightness, the light irradiates you completely from within.

1^st Passiontide

February 28, 2016

Luke 11: 29 - 35

In last week’s Gospel reading, we beheld the light form of the transfigured Christ Jesus, shining on the mountain like the sun. The light that shines from him is the revelation of the Father’s love.  In today’s reading the life of the light continues its progress; for the light of the Father’s love wants to work from within each of us.

Christ chides the people of this generation for not actively seeking the light of wisdom; he chides us for not doing what John the Baptist had encouraged us to do: to change our way of thinking and perceiving.

The Father kindled the light of Christ in the man Jesus, so that all could see the light of love and take it into themselves. The Father would like the same thing to happen within us: that we would take in the light of Christ; that we would look out into the world with the eyes of a clear, impartial, but warm love. The Father would like us to take in with our eyes the being who is the Light of the World, so that our eyes can in turn radiate and shine the brightness of objective love back out into the world.  

As the poet Hafiz says:

God

pours light

into every cup,

quenching darkness.

….

God pours light

and the trees lift their limbs

without worry of redemption,

every blossom a chalice.

….as light

pours like rain

into every empty cup

set adrift on the Infinite Ocean.*

* Hafiz, Interpretive version of Ghazal 11 by Jose Orez

Holy Nights 2015 - 2016, Training Wheels

Luke 18: 18-34
January 3, 2015

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except the divine Father only. You know the commandments, you shall not corrupt marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said, [Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said… Mk 10:21] “One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions, and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

These words made him very sad, for he was extremely rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “How hard it is for those who have earthly riches to find entry into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle, than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Tissot

Those who heard this said, “Who then can find salvation?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have left all that was ours behind us and have followed you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. Everyone who leaves a house  or wife, or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive much more in earthly existence, and in the coming aeon deathless life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him; but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

Luke 18: 18-34

King Stephen, wikimedia

Despite whatever financial concerns we may have, we are all rich. Rich in experience, rich in memories. We all live in fact like the kings and queens of past ages - in warm homes, with enough to eat and comfortable conveyances for travel. We are well outfitted with those servants for work that we call ‘appliances’.  Yet at some point we may become, like the rich leader, ready to take the next step.

Are we ready to follow Christ somewhere deeper than just enjoying our status, deeper even than being good and law-abiding people? We hesitate, perhaps because we know we are not strong enough. We can only do what we are able to do, what we can. But we don’t have to do it alone. God adds to it. ‘For what is impossible for human strength will become possible through the power of God'. In the words of Hafiz:

….Now is the time to understand

That all your ideas of right and wrong

Were just a child's training wheels

To be laid aside

When you finally live

With veracity

And love. …

What is it in that sweet voice inside

That incites you to fear?

Now is the time for the world to know

That every thought and action is sacred.

This is the time

For you to compute the impossibility

That there is anything

But Grace.

Now is the season to know

That everything you do

Is sacred.*

*Hafiz, “Now is the Time” in The Gift - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

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10th August/September Trinity 2007,Bloom

10^th Trinity August September

Pierre Bouillon, wikicommons

Luke 7, 11-17

And it came to pass that on the next day Jesus went into a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. And as he drew near to the gate of the city, they became aware that a dead man was being carried out—the only born son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd of people from the city accompanied her.

And seeing her the Lord felt her suffering, and said to her, “Weep no more.”

And approaching, he touched the coffin, and pallbearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

The dead man sat up, and began to speak. And Jesus gave him to his mother. Astonishment and awe seized all who were standing there, and they began to praise God and to glorify what was here revealed, saying,

“A prophet powerful in spirit has been raised among us, and God has come down to us, his people.”

Word about him spread out into all of Judea and all of the neighboring regions.

10th August September Trinity

September 23, 2007

Luke 7, 11-17

 In recent weeks we have experienced in the gospels how easy it is to become distracted by outer busy-ness and how necessary it is to create quiet moments with which to listen to the Lord. We have heard how subtle and ever-changing the kingdom of the heavens is, and how worry about the future impedes our inner progress.

This is our last week before our encounter with Michael, whose name means ‘Who is like God?’ We will be crossing one of the thresholds of the year to meet him. And today’s reading is about crossing thresholds. A young man in the bloom of youth, dies. Christ approaches in empathy and calls him to rise and live. This is a picture for all of us who approach any threshold, whether in life, in our spiritual work, or at the end of our earthly life. As we pass through the portal, Christ approaches in empathy and bids us rise to resume the dance of life.

Christ has promised us: I will not leave you orphaned…. When one of His disciples asks Him, ‘But why do you show yourself to us and not to the world?’ Christ answers, ‘Because a loveless world is a sightless world. If you love me and treasure my words….the Father and I will be with you.’[1]

When we approach any threshold, we can be sure that our love for Christ will draw Him magnetically to accompany us. And we may hear His voice in the words of the poet:

I know the voice of depression

Still calls you.

I know those habits that can ruin your life

Still send their invitations.

But you are with the Friend now

And look so much stronger.

You can stay that way

And even bloom.[2]

Visit our Website.

---

[1]  John 14: 18-24, in The Message, The New Testament in Contemporary Language, by Eugene Peterson

[2] Hafiz, “Cast All Your Votes for Dancing” in I Heard God Laughing, Renderings of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky, p.15

3rd August Trinity 2015, Polestar of Laughter

3rd August Trinity

Luke 15:1-32

Now many customs officials, despised by the people, who called them sinners and expelled them from their community, sought to be close to Jesus. They wanted to listen to him. The Pharisees and teachers of the law however were upset by this and said, “This man accepts sinners and eats with them!”

So he told them this parable: “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open and go looking for the lost one until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!’

I tell you, there will be more joy in the heavens over one human being, living in denial of the spirit, who changes his mind, than over the ninety-nine righteous who think they have no need of repentance.

Lost Drachma, Tissot, Brooklyn Museum

Or which woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, does not light a lamp, sweep the whole house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost!’

In the same way, I tell you, there will be joy among the angels in the world of spirit over one human being living in denial of the spirit who manages to change his heart and mind. “

And he said further: “A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Give me the share of the estate which falls to me.’  And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a far country and squandered his estate in the enjoyment of loose living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine came over the land, and he began to be in need. So he went and attached himself to a citizen of the country who sent him out into his fields and let him herd swine. And he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything.

Then he came to himself, and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here of hunger. I will rise up and go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].’

So he rose up and traveled along the road to his father. When he was still a long

Return of Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, Wiki

way off, his father saw him, felt his misery, ran toward him, embraced him and kissed him. And yet the son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].’

But the father called his servant to him. ‘Quickly! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and slaughter the fattened calf. Then we shall eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is risen to life. He was lost and is found again.’ And they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile the older son was in the field. When he returned home and came near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him and asked him what it meant. He gave him the news: ‘Your brother has come home again. So in joy your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back again safe and sound.’

The son grew dark with anger and didn’t want to go in. But his father came out and pleaded with him. He however reproached his father saying, ‘Look! For so many years I have been with you and have never neglected one of your commands. But you never gave me so much as a goat that I might be merry with my friends. And now comes this son of yours who has eaten up your wealth in scandal, and you offer him the fattened calf.’

The father however said to him ‘Child, you are always with me and all that I have belongs to you too. But now we should be glad and rejoice, for this your brother was dead and lives; he was lost and has been found again.’

3rd August Trinity

August 9, 2015

Luke 15:1-32

Losing something that belongs to us means of course that we are separated from it. Being lost ourselves, losing our way, means having lost our own orientation, not being able to find our goal. Perhaps we don’t even know what it is.

The stories in today’s readings are about both losing and being lost. And yet each narrative ends in rejoicing. Through the human being’s diligent searching, the lost coin and sheep were found. And the son, who himself was lost in the far country, turns himself around and makes his way home.

We search for what we have lost, whether it is a precious thing of value, or it is our own orientation and goal. For this is what it means to be truly human: to be aware of separation, to seek and to find, even when searching and finding are arduous and painful. Searching and finding are basic keys to our humanity.

We ourselves are all a bit lost, separated from our own true being and our home in the divine world. We are separated from our true selves and thus from our own real future. At the same time, the good beings of that world, like the son’s father in the story, are on the look-out for us. They cannot go out and search for us (though One did). They cannot drag us back. The return is our own choice, accomplished through our own efforts. But our heavenly Father and the whole angelic household are watching and waiting for us. They are sending out their love, as a golden guide home. And they greet our return with great joy, celebration and laughter. The poet Hafiz says:

Laughter is the polestar

Polestar (North Star)

Held in the sky by our Beloved,

Who eternally says,

"Yes, dear ones, come this way,

Come this way towards Me and Love!

….

O what is laughter, …?

What is this precious love and laughter

Budding in our hearts?

It is the glorious sound

Of a soul waking up!*

Having once found the way, we can always return. And both we and the good beings rejoice, even if we can only stay for an hour.

* Hafiz, “Laughter”, in I Heard God Laughing, Renderings of Hafiz, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 125.

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2nd June Trinity 2015, Cup of Solace

June Trinity
John 4, 1-26

At this time the Lord became aware that it was rumored among the Pharisees that Jesus was finding and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, though his disciples did.) Therefore he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

Now he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was also there. Jesus was weary with the journey, and he sat down by the well. It was about midday, the sixth hour.

Then a Samaritan woman came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, “Give me to drink.” For his disciples had gone into town to buy bread.

Then the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?” For the Jews avoided all contact with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew how the divine world now draws near to men, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me to drink’, you would ask him, and he would give you the water of life [the living water].

“Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where will you draw the living water? Are you greater than our Father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him, his thirst will be quenched for all time. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up as true life for eternity.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may never be thirsty again, and need never come here again to draw.”

He said to her, “Go call your husband and show him to me.”

“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You have well said that you have no husband. Five husbands you have had, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that only in Jerusalem is the place where one should worship.”

Jesus answered, “Believe me, o woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship a being you do not know; we worship what we do know. That is why salvation had to be prepared for among the Jews. But the hour is coming and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with the power of the spirit and in awareness [knowledge] of the truth.”

Then the woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will teach us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I AM he who stands before you and speaks to you.”

  

June Trinity

June 7, 2015

John 4, 1-26

If someone were to ask us for a drink of water we would happily oblige. All of us share the basic experience of thirst, thirst for water, that most precious of life sustaining substances.

In life we also further thirst for more than just water; we thirst for knowledge; we thirst for love and relationship; we thirst for change and effectiveness.

Christ says to the woman at the well – I thirst. He, the God of Human Beings, empathizes with all our human thirsts, for He experiences them himself. And at the same time, his thirst is a request for something from us. I thirst – he says- for knowledge of you, for a relationship of love with you, to be an effective presence and power in your life. In exchange I will satisfy your thirst for eternal knowledge, for everlasting love and for the effectiveness of the divine in your life. Then you can become a fountain for your fellow human beings.

…Standing by your Beloved's side

Reaching out to comfort this world

With your cup of solace

Drawn from your vast reservoir of Truth.

 ….

Where there are bleeding men

Who are calling for a sacred drink,

A gentle word or touch from man

or God. [1]

Visit our Website!

[1] Hafiz, ”Not With Wings”, in The Subject Tonight is Love - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

Easter 2015, Harbingers of Light

Easter Sunday

Mark 16: 1-18

And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb just as the sun was rising. And they said to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?”

And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—and it was very large. And they went into the tomb. There they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clad in a white robe; and they were beside themselves with amazement. And he said to them, “Do not be startled; you seek Jesus of Nazareth the Crucified One. He is risen; He is not here; see, there is the place where they laid Him [his body]. But go, and say to his disciples and Peter “He will lead you to Galilee. There you will see Him as He promised you.”

                And they went out and fled from the tomb in great haste, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and being awestruck, they were unable to say anything to anyone about what they had experienced.

When He had risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had driven out seven demons. And she went and told those who had walked with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, their hearts could not grasp it.

After this He appeared in another form to two of them on the way as they were walking over the fields. And they went back and told the rest, but they could not open their hearts to their words either.

Afterwards He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and for their hardness of heart, because they had not wanted to believe those who had seen Him, the Risen One.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the new message from the realm of the angels to the whole of creation. Whoever unites his heart with it [believes] and is immersed in me [baptized] will attain the salvation. But whoever closes himself against it does not let the power of selflessness into his heart [does not let the power of My Self into his heart] will meet his downfall. And spiritual powers [these signs] will stand by those who unite themselves with it [believe] and will attend their path : Through the power of my being [in my name] they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents they will make upright, and poisons they are given to drink will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and give healing forces to them.

Easter Sunday

April 5, 2015

Mark 16: 1-18

In the week before His death, Christ said “unless a kernel of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24

The Risen One, Gruenewald, Wikipedia

The living power of Christ’s blood entered the earth at His crucifixion. And His body was placed into a cave in the earth. He, the great Light-Seed, died into the earth. On Holy Saturday, he rooted himself firmly into the earth, descending to the dead. On Easter morning, the first new shoots of His new Life broke forth from underground. New Life, capable of reproducing itself infinitely, began to grow.

At Ascension. He will open himself wide to the cosmos, while still remaining connected to the earth. And so this new Life will blossom into the whole world. At Pentecost His manifold light-seeds will fall into the hearts of those who love him.

And now, today, we rejoice because new Life is flashing forth from death. It is emerging from its apparent demise; it flares up from the ground of our hearts. The Light-Seed is quickening in the earth, in us. For today, as the poet says,

Every man, plant and creature in Existence,

Every woman, child, vein and note

Is a servant of our Beloved -

A harbinger of joy,

The harbinger of

Light.[1]

Visit our website

---

[1] Hafiz, ”Guardians of His Beauty”, in The Subject Tonight is Love -- versions by Daniel Ladinsky

9th August/September Trinity 2014,

9th August/September Trinity

Matthew 6: 25-34

“No one can serve two masters: either he will hate one and love the other, or he will  put up with one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and greed’s demon of riches [mammon].

“That is why I tell you, do not trouble your heart about what you will eat and drink or with what you will clothe your body. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky: they do not plant, do not harvest, and do not fill barns, and your heavenly Father still feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Can any of you, by being vastly concerned, add one moment to the span of your life?

And why do you worry about clothing? Study how the lilies of the field grow: they do not work, and they do not spin cloth. But I am telling you that not even Solomon in all his glory was ever arrayed as one of these. If that is how God clothes the wild grass of the field, here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will He not do much more for you, o small in faith?

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we drink? What will we wear?’ It is the nations who ask for all these things, and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Ask first for God’s kingdom and its harmonious order, and these other things will be delivered to you as well.

So do not worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow can worry about itself. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

9^th August/September Trinity

September 21, 2014

Matthew 6:25 – 34

Killing Frost

We have come to the equinox, the time of balance between the light and the darkness. From now on, here in the north, the balance will rapidly begin to shift. Temperatures cool; leaves fall; frost and winter kill set in. [In the southern hemisphere it is the opposite – the warmth, the budding life of spring.]

Today’s reading is a warning to us. At this time of the year we are not to follow nature’s course. We are not to become dark and cold. We are not to let the killing force in us, our critical side, gain the upper hand. Instead, we are to warm the analytical side of our soul with compassion and love.

We are not to let our fears of what is to come extend beyond today. The greatest fear of all is that there is nothing beyond us, that we are alone in the universe. Instead, we are warm our freezing anxieties and fears by concentrating on the wondrous harmony of the greater ecology of God’s creation, and our own place in it. For every night in sleep we visit God’s home. We receive the night’s measure, our gifts of strength and inspiration to cope with the coming day. To extend our fears anxiously into the future is to salt the fields of our own souls, to render them infertile. God’s generously pours out gifts for us, given to us day by day, night by night. As the poet says:

…An empty heart, a tormented mind,

Unkindness, jealousy and fear

Are always the testimony

You have been completely fooled!

….Come, join the honest company

Of the King's beggars -

….

Who need Divine Love every night.

Come, join the courageous

Who have no choice

But to bet their entire world

That indeed,

Indeed, God is Real.

…. Everything,

Everything in Existence

Does point to God.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Hafiz, "A Golden Compass."

  

3rd August Trinity 2010, Lost and Valuable

3^rd August Trinity

Luke 15:1-32

Now many customs officials, despised by the people, who called them sinners and expelled them from their community, sought to be close to Jesus. They wanted to listen to him. The Pharisees and teachers of the law however were upset by this and said, “This man accepts sinners and eats with them!”

So he told them this parable:

“What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open and go looking for the lost one until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!’

I tell you, there will be more joy in the heavens over one human being, living in denial of the spirit, who changes his mind, than over the ninety-nine righteous who think they have no need of repentance.

Or which woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, does not light a

lamp, sweep the whole house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost!’

In the same way, I tell you, there will be joy among the angels in the world of spirit over one human being living in denial of the spirit who manages to change his heart and mind. “

And he said further: “A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Give me the share of the estate which falls to me.’  And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a far country and squandered his estate in the enjoyment of loose living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine came over the land, and he began to be in need. So he went and attached himself to a citizen of the country who sent him out into his fields and let him herd swine. And he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything.

Then he came to himself, and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here of hunger. I will rise up and go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].’

Price

So he rose up and traveled along the road to his father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt his misery, ran toward him, embraced him and kissed him. And yet the son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].’

But the father called his servant to him. ‘Quickly! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and slaughter the fattened calf. Then we shall eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is risen to life. He was lost and is found again.’ And they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile the older son was in the field. When he returned home and came near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him and asked him what it meant. He gave him the news: ‘Your brother has come home again. So in joy your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back again safe and sound.’

The son grew dark with anger and didn’t want to go in. But his father came out and pleaded with him. He however reproached his father saying, ‘Look! For so many years I have been with you and have never neglected one of your commands. But you never gave me so much as a goat that I might be merry with my friends. And now comes this son of yours who has eaten up your wealth in scandal, and you offer him the fattened calf.’

The father however said to him ‘Child, you are always with me and all that I have belongs to you too. But now we should be glad and rejoice, for this your brother was dead and lives; he was lost and has been found again.’

3^rd August Trinity

August 8, 2010

Luke 15: 1-32

One of the poets famously wrote, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”[1] The three parables in today’s reading are like a love poem from God to us. They are three different ways Christ uses to show us how much the divine world values us.

We are each of us like a lost sheep; yet our individual value is greater in God’s eyes than that of the rest of the safe flock; valuable enough to be sought and rescued.

We are each like a lost coin, that golden condensate of the value of our human labor. Our life labors, even if misguided, have value to God.

For we are all like the lost son. We have taken what was given to us in life and squandered it in selfishness. And yet, to God, the most precious thing of all is the awakening of the human heart. In the pigsty the lost son ‘comes to himself’. Luke 15:17  Indeed it was his risky behavior that led to his heart’s awakening to love. The heart of his older brother, the safe one, only awakens to self-righteousness and anger. But the father would have him awaken to love. And the Father of us all pleads with us to come and rejoice with Him.

For as the poet says:

Laughter is the polestar

Held in the sky by our Beloved,

Who eternally says,

"Yes, dear ones, come this way,

Come this way towards Me and Love!

….O what is laughter,…?

What is this precious love and laughter

Budding in our hearts?

It is the glorious sound

Of a soul waking up![2]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

[2] Hafiz, “Laughter” in I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)